We’ve been in France almost a month, and for the past three weeks we’ve been doing our best to really live here, to the extent that is possible in a temporary rental. I base the following judgement solely on our experience in one French city — Montpellier.
Being “green” in France is not hard.
Of course, France is not some green utopia. Like any country, it has room for improvement. But overall, the infrastructure supports eco-conscious habits and choices, big and small.
Let’s start with the big things.
Transportation.
First, there are trains. Traveling by train is a delight here. The TGV, or high-speed rail service, connects all major cities to Paris and some to each other. The regional trains are plentiful and timely (except maybe when a rail strike is happening). Not every village in France has a train station, but most will have buses to connect to one.
Montpellier has an excellent and affordable public transit system of trams and buses. A monthly pass for unlimited travel is 60 euros, unless you’re over 65 and a resident of the metropolitan area, in which case it’s free. At the end of the year, the transit system will become free for all residents of Montpellier.
The city also has an extensive network of bike lanes, and many residents take advantage of them. In the central area where we’re living, we easily see more people on bikes than in cars.
This city also is a walking paradise. Many streets in the center are closed to car traffic; we can’t figure out if motorcycles are allowed or just ignore a ban.
Even on streets with cars, crossing is easy for pedestrians. Car traffic is light and motorists cede the right-of-way. Cyclists go pretty fast, so one must look both ways before stepping off the curb.
The vehicles here are generally much smaller than in the U.S. We see almost no pickup trucks. Small SUVs are about as big as a personal vehicle gets.
Food.
Our experience is not typical, living right next to the city’s biggest twice-weekly farmer’s market. But we’ve seen numerous fresh air produce stalls throughout the city, and even the small mainstream grocery nearest our apartment has an excellent selection of fresh foods.
At least half of the food I’ve seen for sale in Montpellier is labeled “bio,” which is the French designation for organic. Many restaurants also proclaim their use of bio ingredients.
Speaking of restaurants, one may consider portion size a problem for the waistline rather than the waste-line, but limiting it is a good thing for both. As anyone knows who has ever traveled outside the U.S., American restaurants serve obscenely large portions. You may think you’re getting more bang for your buck when your dinner plate has enough food for the average family of four, and you get a generous to-go box for your leftovers. Yay! Lunch for tomorrow, and maybe dinner, too!
But let’s be honest: those restaurant leftovers are rarely tasty after spending the night in your fridge and getting zapped in the microwave, and often they end up in the trash along with the box, which is often styrofoam. I have been in homes — not naming names — where cleaning out the fridge once a week results in a jumbo garbage bag full of take-out containers and their rotting contents.
I’m not quite sure how French restauranteurs manage the trick of serving just the right amount of food to satisfy me and my hungry-man husband. Ok, sometimes he finishes mine, so maybe I’d have leftovers if he weren’t with me. Still, the end result is that we’re eating what we’re served without needing a take-out box, which brings me to:
Waste (not).
Garbage here is also different. We live above a small organic grocery shop, and I can watch from our balcony their deliveries and pick-ups. Each day they put out crates of unsold produce, and someone collects it, whether for food pantries, animal feed, or compost, I don’t know. I’ve yet to see any of it go in the small dumpster on the corner.
The French also bring their own shopping bags, which are often carts on wheels. (I actually have one of these in Traverse City and take it with me to Oryana, but in my 30 years in northern Michigan, I’ve only seen three other people with a similar cart anywhere in Traverse City).
At the farmer’s market, very light paper baggies are provided for those who want to gather their apples for weighing, but it’s perfectly acceptable to put them directly into your own bag or trolley. The only plastic I’ve seen used is for wet things like olives in brine.
Of course, France has a plastics problem just like most countries, but it is willing to ban things like drinking straws and styrofoam.
Recycling bins are located throughout the city.
I’ve seen signs about compost bins, but I haven’t needed one because of no leftovers. The food is so good we eat it all!
Appliances.
Are also smaller, and perfectly adequate.
Our apartment has a petite dishwasher, just one drawer under the sink. We’ve used it a couple of times, but mostly we wash up in the sink.
The French rarely use automatic clothes dryers. An American couple we met here are renting a furnished apartment that has a washer-dryer combo machine. However, mostly clothes are air-dried on racks, and the washing machines are small enough that one load does not overwhelm the fold-out rack.
Our cooktop is induction, which I’ve read is the most energy-efficient method. The oven is smaller than an American oven, but I could probably still fit a turkey in it if I tried. The refrigerator is larger than we’ve seen in other apartments, but still much smaller than anything other than a dorm fridge in the U.S. Yet it has a wine rack. Priorities! Also, a large fridge isn’t necessary here because you’re shopping more frequently and eating things fresh, plus not having all those take-out boxes, remember?
Finally, turn out the lights.
If there’s one thing that just seems a no-brainer, it’s installing motion-detector lighting. Every hall or stairway we’ve walked through in France has this. A light comes on when you open the door and turns itself off when you exit. I know other European countries also do this.
No place is perfect, and there may be areas in which the U.S. is ahead of France in reducing environmental impact. I just wish it were as easy to limit my carbon footprint at home as it is to do it here.
